Olympics table tennis: Sharath Kamal makes shocking exit!
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Paris: In table tennis, veteran Indian player Sharath Kamal suffered a shocking defeat in the first round at the Paris Olympics 2024. The 42-year-old, who was India's flag bearer along with PV Sindhu at the opening ceremony, fell to Slovenia's Deni Kozul. Score 12-10 9-11 6-11 7-11 11-8 10-12. Sharath is a five-time Olympian.
Also, a Commonwealth Games champion, Sharath Kamal, fought to win the first game but then lost the next three in a row. After that, he was able to recover in the next game, but the opponent won in the decisive final, and Sharath was made to bow out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Manika Batra advanced forward with a 4-1 win. She defeated British paddler Anna Hursey 11-8 12-10 11-9 9-11 11-5.
With the victory, she again became the first woman paddler to reach the round of 32 in singles, Time of India reported. The player from Delhi was in a race throughout the game. She had reached a 3-0 lead in just 24 minutes. Though Hursey, her opponent, won the fourth game, Manika made a dominating win in the fifth to clinch the match.
She will be facing France's Prithika Pavade in her next battle.
Also, India's highest-ranked Sreeja Akula has made it to the next round. She beat Sweden's Christina Källberg in straight sets. Score 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8. Sreeja, who also had the record of being the first Indian woman to win a WTT Contentender singles title, made her victory in the round in a mere 30 minutes.